


Baby Steps

by serhietonin



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27180034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serhietonin/pseuds/serhietonin
Summary: Deuce realises that Ace is a little bit cooler than he gave him credit for.Ace realises that maybe, just maybe, he was already describing someone he knew.[inspired by the Ghost Marriage event]
Relationships: Deuce Spade/Ace Trappola
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	Baby Steps

**Author's Note:**

> I read Ace’s Ghost Marriage SSR Story and had An Epiphany™. Please enjoy! Yuu appears in this fic and since their gender isn’t specified in the game, I went with they/them pronouns. I hope this doesn’t confuse anyone!

“We’re finally done!!” With that, Ace collapsed onto the floor, letting out a loud sigh.

Thanks to Headmaster Crowley, the first years of Night Raven College were graciously tasked with cleaning up the cafeteria-turned-wedding-hall. _“No exceptions!”_ he had said, much to Ace and Epel’s dismay, who were already worn out from speeding through the school grounds to rescue their poor seniors. Truly, it was the most eventful evening that Ace had gone through in a while and he was just glad that it was all over.

Or so he thought.

Ortho… Oh, sweet little, Ortho… What had started out as a compliment took a sharp turn and ended up as Ortho throwing Ace under the bus without a moment’s hesitation. _Thermography, body temperature and pupil dilation, my ass!_ Ace silently swore at Idia for making Ortho such an all-rounder, except in the department of reading social cues.

“I just said those things to be able to convince the ghost!” Ace retorted hurriedly, in a last-ditch attempt to save his own reputation.

“Oh~~?” 

Had Ace not been thrown off by Ortho’s earlier embarrassing “praises”, he would have forcibly wiped those shit-eating grins off Jack, Deuce and Sebek’s face – in no particular order. It certainly did not help that Deuce had suggested having a watch party of the video that Ortho had recorded of Ace. Naturally, Ace shot a glare over in Deuce’s direction, only to be responded with a shrug accompanied by a playful smirk. In any case, wasn’t this a violation of his own rights?!

Ace had helped save Idia from his netherworldly demise, but today, had ultimately ended with his defeat.

\---

_Ka-chak!_

Yuu plugged the thumbdrive into the laptop, before scooting back to the sofa to enjoy the “movie” with the rest of the boys. Miraculously, they had managed to dig out a video projector in this derelict dorm, although Deuce had to give it a few good hits before it actually started working.

“Do I HAVE to be here?” Ace groaned, burying his face into a pillow.

“Yes,” came the immediate chorus of replies, from literally everyone else present.

_They’re way too eager about this!_

The moment Yuu hit the play button, Ace felt a part of him die on the inside. Part of him was impressed by how high-quality the video was, but it was definitely insufficient to cover up his embarrassment. He threw a sideways look to Deuce. Of all people to watch this replay, he had to be one of them. Ace was utterly convinced that Deuce would not let him live this down for days to come.

Little did Ace know, in the darkness of the lounge, Deuce’s eyes were ever-so-slightly sparkling while watching the video. Deuce had stopped making jabs at Ace a while back and started paying attention to the recording seriously because… Because he actually looked pretty cool back there! Hotheaded Ace, always running into trouble; hothead Ace, always speaking before thinking – Deuce could not believe his eyes at the sight before him. To be fair, nothing much had changed, save for his appearance. It reminded him of the time where Ace got pissed off by Riddle, even going so far as to straight-up punch the Dorm Head. Considering Ace’s personality, Ortho’s deduction must have been accurate. Whatever that Ace had said to the Ghost Bride back at the cafeteria, it could only have been his true feelings.

Nearing the end of the video, Deuce snuck a glance at Ace. The latter had brought his knees up to his chest, using a pillow as a shield to block the screen from his view. Deuce lips formed a wry smile. _Ace… He really is one of a kind._

“So… Cool!” Epel broke the silence, as Yuu reached for the lights.

“I didn’t know you had that in you,” chuckled Deuce.

“I agree. Those were indeed feelings from the heart. I am impressed,” Jack nodded sagely in agreement.

Ace threw his pillow forcefully at Jack. “Why are you deciding for me what’s true or not?!” 

“Not bad. I suppose we could take some pointers from you,” snickered Sebek. “I will have to report my findings back to Lilia.”

“Go back already!!”

\---

It took a while, but after another hour or so of lounging around, the group finally began to disperse back to their own respective dorms.

“Ace,” Yuu called out, with Grim scampering along behind.

“Yeah?” He replied noncommittally, hands busy tying his shoelaces.

“Where’s Deuce?” Yuu asked, scanning the area.

Ace gestured in the direction of the washroom.

“During your confession–”

“It was NOT a confession,” Ace corrected Yuu, sighing in exasperation. Honestly! He had always thought that Yuu would be the more sensible one.

“Right, right, whatever,” Grim waved a paw in dismissal, before jumping in front of Ace, earning a raised eyebrow from him. “Hurry and get to the point, Yuu! Before Deuce comes back!”

_Deuce? What does he have to do with this?_

Coughing lightly, Yuu cleared their throat. “So, um, we were thinking about what you said before. Someone you can laugh and cry with… Someone who would stay by your side no matter how hard things get…”

Ace did not like where this was going.

“Weren’t you basically just describing Deuce?”

Ace did not like where this ended up at.

“No?! It was a general statement– It wasn’t even serious– Why are you all–!!” Flustered, Ace could only reply in a barrage of broken sentences, possibly an accurate reflection of his state of mind at that moment.

“It’s Deuce.” “Definitely Deuce.” The two Ramshackle dorm residents nodded in unison.

“How the hell did you even come up with that…” At that point in time, Ace was already too exhausted to raise his voice at the duo.

Grim rolled his eyes. “It’s so obvious. You’re always stuck to him like glue!”

“He’s the one sticking to me!” Ace protested, turning to look at Yuu. 

With a sheepish smile, Yuu nonchalantly shrugged their shoulders. “Either way, Grim has a point.”

Ace’s mind was reeling with this new influx of information. _Me?? And Deuce?? That Deuce???_ First, Ortho comes and declares the sincerity of Ace’s confession; now, these two nutcrackers had conveniently decided that it was all for Deuce. This one night was truly too much for Ace to handle.

\---

Deuce Spade had a problem. The problem in question, might be involving his roommate, Ace Trappola.

Ever since the whole Ghost Marriage saga– No, ever since Deuce had watched the recording of Ace’s heartfelt confession (to no one in particular), he had been paying more attention to Ace. Deuce was convinced that this was most certainly an issue to be worried about. Moreover, the problem was exacerbated by the fact that Deuce and Ace were practically around each other twenty-four seven. Which mind you, was not by choice. (Not that either of them particularly disliked it.)

“Five perfects today!” Speaking (or thinking) of the devil, an all-too-familiar voice commented from behind. Ace strolled towards Deuce, flying broom in hand. “That has got to be a new best. Mr. Vargas hasn’t been this pleased in a long time!”

“Hah, PE isn’t my best subject for nothing, you know,” Deuce flaunted, before letting out a snicker. “I see that you only fell off once today.”

“You–!” Stopping his sentence short, Ace playfully swung his broom at Deuce’s legs. “Come talk to me when you can actually do Math!”

Deuce frowned, huffing. “Math is useless.”

Same old, same old. A few days had passed since Idia was kidnapped by ghosts, and all the hype about the incident had died fairly quickly. Hardly anyone continued to bring up the events that had transpired, lest they garner the dissatisfaction of the dorm heads (Leona and Vil, in particular). Undoubtedly, this was to the relief of Ace. School life had returned to some form of normalcy and even Deuce, whom he had expected to be tormented by, did not even talk about the event again after that night.

Deuce’s lack of teasing towards him aside, Ace was more preoccupied with the theory that Yuu and Grim had cooked up the other night. As much as Ace wanted to brush it off as nonsense spouted due to their excitement, their words remained stuck at the back of his head. Truth to be told, the feeling was rather unpleasant. It was similar to the nagging feeling Ace would experience due to his conscience whenever he did something wrong. Except for this time, Ace really had nothing to feel guilty about.

The more Ace thought about it, the more unsettled and confused he got.

“... Transform.”

“What?” Ace snapped out of his momentary daze.

Deuce sighed. “I was saying, there’s literally no use for nonsense like Laplace transform. Anyway, lunch?”

“About time. Let’s go, I’m starving!”

\---

As usual, the cafeteria was jam-packed with students fighting their way to get their fill. After squeezing their way through the crowd, only did Ace and Deuce both manage to get their meals and secure a seat at a corner table for two.

“I can’t believe they ran out of cherry pie for dessert!” Ace whined, lifelessly poking into his chicken cutlet.

“Just get Clover to bake you one later,” Deuce calmly replied, casually transferring slices of bell pepper from his plate over to Ace’s.

“Knowing Trey he’ll make me go buy the ingredients first… Hey, hey, that’s enough!” Ace looked down at the mound of red and yellow slices that had just manifested on top of his plate. “Seriously, why did you even get this when you don’t even like bell peppers?”

Deuce pointed at his plate with his fork. “For the omelette, of course,” he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_Sigh, sometimes, the things he does are pretty cute._

Ace’s eyes snapped wide open.

“What now,” questioned Deuce. 

“Nothing!” Ace responded, quickly shoving a piece of cutlet into his mouth.

Deuce quizzically raised an eyebrow, but proceeded to ignore the other’s display of oddity and diverted his attention back to his meal.

 _That was dangerous_ , Ace mused to himself. All these months of knowing Deuce and never had such a thought crossed his mind. Or at the very least, he had not been conscious of it. Why now? The only reasonable answer would be that it was all Yuu and Grim’s fault, for planting the idea in his head!

As Ace sighed and continued chewing his food, Deuce could only watch his friend cluelessly. Whatever it was, Deuce was not one to probe. Besides, he knew that if Ace truly had an issue with something, he would not hear the end of it. For now, it seemed that whatever was bothering him was still relatively minor.

_Maybe it’s about the cherry pie…_

\---

True to what Ace had foreseen, Trey had agreed to baking a cherry pie for them – only if they bought the ingredients first. As both Ace and Deuce had no classes for the next two hours, it was an opportune time to make a trip to the grocery store. Except what was supposed to be a quick 30-minute errand turned into an hour-long one. The reason being? They got distracted.

“Walk faster! We’re keeping Clover waiting for us!” Deuce yelled, brisk walking back to the dorm.

Grocery bags in both his hands – _“you wanted the pie, so you carry the bags!” said Deuce_ – Ace huffed as he matched the other’s pace. “And whose fault is that?!”

“Yours!”

“I’m not the one who stood down there contemplating which brand of eggs to get!”

“Well, you spent way more time cherry-picking, literally!”

“Cherry pie needs good cherries to taste good,” Ace sulked.

Deuce rolled his eyes. “They’re all going to be mashed up anyway!”

“I can hear your bickering from a mile away, ya know,” Grim called out to the duo, trotting up to them.

Conveniently side-stepping the gremlin, Ace replied without even stopping. “No time for you!”

“W-Wait! Yuu has something to pass to you two! Get back here!”

Cue to the both of them halting in their tracks and turning around, only to see an out-of-breath Yuu finally catching up to them.

“How… Are you… Walking so fast…” Yuu panted, taking some time to catch their breath.

“Sorry, we’re in a rush to deliver things,” Deuce replied apologetically, gesturing to the grocery bags that Ace was holding.

“It’s alright… I’ll make it quick…” Still breathing heavily, Yuu pulled out two neatly folded pieces of paper from their pocket and handed it to Deuce. “I received four tickets to the amusement park for free. We have a long weekend ahead of us, so I was thinking that we could go there together!”

“Who’s the fourth person?” Ace asked, peering over to look at the tickets.

“Me! I am!” Grim stomped his paw angrily on the ground. “For the record, Yuu asked me before the both of you!”

“They let pets in?” Deuce furrowed his eyebrows. “No, wait… Do pets even need a– Ow!” Grim had forcefully stepped on Deuce’s foot in disdain mid-sentence, yelling “I am not a pet!”, swiftly changing Deuce’s serious expression to one of annoyance.

Snickering at the mess before him, Ace turned his attention back to Yuu. “I’m free to go!” It had been some time since he last went and with the free tickets now? There was no way he going to reject the offer.

“Same,” Deuce chimed in.

“Great!” Yuu beamed in delight. “I’ll text you the meetup details later then, I won’t hold you any longer.”

Flashing a thumbs-up at Yuu, Ace and Deuce then continued hurrying along back to Heartslabyul dorm. After all, a delicious treat was waiting for them back there.

\---

Long story short, Ace got his cherry pie, they went for class and the day ended as usual. Fast forward to Saturday morning, when the four of them were all preparing to head to the amusement park together as planned. They had agreed on meeting at the gates of the school at ten in the morning, but in true troublemaker-fashion, Ace and Deuce showed up late.

“About time! You kept us waiting for fifteen minutes!” Grim complained, folding his paws.

Deuce promptly pointed at Ace. “ _Someone_ was taking too long to get ready.”

“You weren’t exactly on time either!” Ace retorted. 

From the looks of it, it seemed that both of them took longer than expected to get ready. It was no surprise though, considering that they did not get the chance to go out of school often. Truth be told, seeing them in casual attire was rather refreshing. Although Deuce’s outfit was fairly simple – a white shirt paired with navy trousers, with a grey jacket draped over his shoulders – it accentuated his lean figure well. On the other hand, Ace was slightly more colourful. Donning a red-black-white blocked hoodie, with a matching pair of blue denim jeans, his ensemble suited his personality to a T. 

Yuu chuckled to themselves. The duo really did look (and act) quite the pair.

“Okay, okay, let’s not waste any more time. The amusement park’s going to get crowded, you know.”

Ushering the bickering duo along, they made their way to the amusement park. Sometimes, Yuu truly felt like a babysitter. Perhaps this was his true purpose for being summoned to this world…

After a largely uneventful trip, they arrived safely at their destination an hour later. _Largely_ uneventful, except the part where Ace went into full panic mode because he thought he had lost his ticket (he didn’t – Deuce had helped him safekeep it).

Park map in his hands, Deuce began to study the locations of the attractions and food areas – the two most important features of an amusement park, of course. “Alright. Let’s go in a clockwise direction–”

“Roller-coasters first!” Ace yelled, running ahead in the direction of Space Mountain with Grim chasing along behind.

Deuce and Yuu turned to look at each other, before letting out a collective sigh. At the very least, Ace had the brain not to run off to the furthest ride first.

Fun fact! Deuce and Ace were perfectly fine with heights. Yuu and Grim? Not so much. So when the photos came out, it was _pretty_ hilarious.

“Wha– What is with that face!!” Ace clutched his stomach and doubled over in laughter, pointing at the screen above the photo counter. Even Deuce started snickering along. The photo in question? Ace and Deuce having the time of their lives, while Yuu and Grim looked as if they had just seen a ghost scarier than the ones in Ramshackle Dorm.

Face pale, Yuu let out a groan at their teasing. “I didn’t expect it to be that fast… The effects were pretty cool though.”

“Hah, you’re a newbie at this! By the end of today, roller-coasters will have nothing on you!” Ace proclaimed proudly, in spite of Yuu’s protests.

“That being said,” Deuce turned to look at Grim. “I’m surprised he didn’t fly off.”

“Trust me, I’m surprised too.” Grim, who had been gripping on to the seatbelts with his dear life, sighed.

Their outing at the amusement park, it was as typical as it got. Rides, snacks and a healthy (?) dose of bickering between Ace and Deuce over what to do next. Halfway through, Ace lost a bet with Yuu and was resigned to wear one of those mouse-ear hairbands for the rest of the day. Needless to say, Yuu and Deuce took lots of photos “for memory purposes” (read: blackmail material).

They say that time passes the fastest when you are having fun. Today, Yuu confirmed that theory. Before they knew it, the sun was already beginning to set. Thankfully, they had already covered most of the large attractions. All but the large ferris wheel that overlooked the entire theme park, which Yuu had purposely saved for last, for a couple of reasons. Well, the main reason being they knew that the other two would rather go on adrenaline-pumping rides than sit in a slow-moving cabin, but details, details.

“Tickets, please,” the usher said as she scanned Ace and Deuce’s tickets, before letting them through, followed by Yuu and Grim. “Capsule capacity is two people max, please head to queues five and six,” she directed them with a wave of her hand.

“I wanna go with Yuu!” Grim called out quickly, darting ahead to queue five first.

Ace stuck out his tongue in defiance. “Bleh! Who’d want to be stuck in there alone with you anyway!”

“The noisy people should all be together…” Deuce complained, still walking over to join Ace in the queue despite his words.

“Agreed. But for the safety of all guests, we’ll split the load and keep them apart,” teased Yuu, garnering the scowl of Ace and Grim.

As if the staff were already tired of their mindless quibbles, their respective capsules soon arrived. First Yuu and Grim, then Ace and Deuce, with the former giving a wave to the remaining two before boarding.

“The ride will be about 30 minutes long, please enjoy!” A staff member chirped as she closed the door of Ace and Deuce’s capsule, sending them on their way up.

The pair simultaneously turned to look at each in bewilderment upon her comment. Half an hour!? Since when were theme park rides this long?! Ace shifted around and angled his head upwards, hoping to catch Yuu’s expression at that moment, but the angle and distance made it difficult to see people in other capsules – rightfully so. Sighing, he slumped back into his seat, hand propping up his chin as he gazed out of the window.

Deuce, on the other hand, had been seated properly the entire time they were in the capsule – a grand total of one minute. Given how noisy they were just a while back, the sudden silence that fell over them seemed to be… Awkward. True, they usually had no issues coming up with idle banter and chatting with each other over meals, but this? This was a completely different setting. All-too-distinctly, he could hear everything – the soft creaking of the ferris wheel, the whirr of the air condition and their steady, rhythmic breaths.

As they continued their ascent, they looked out in opposite directions, not saying a word to each other. Until that is when Deuce could not hold it in any longer.

“If you have something to say, just say it,” Deuce muttered, without even turning in Ace’s direction. They were stuck in here for 30 minutes – he might as well make full use of the time.

Ace’s attention was caught. He gave Deuce a puzzled look, replying only with a very confused “huh”. He had absolutely no idea what Deuce was going on about now.

Deuce reluctantly tore his idle gaze away from the scenery, making eye contact with Ace. “Well?”

“I _literally_ do not know what in the world you are talking about.”

Exasperated, Deuce clicked his tongue. Did he really have to spell it out for Ace? It was obvious, was it not? How Ace had been acting… Slightly off. For the past week. It was subtle, but noticeable enough. (Of course, Deuce would notice, of course.) “You’ve been acting strangely for a while now. Around me.”

 _Ah._ The cogwheels in Ace’s head started to turn.

“If I did something that you’re not happy with, then out with it,” Deuce continued, crossing his arms together as he pondered upon the events that played out the entire week. No matter how much he thought about it, he could not think of a specific reason that could explain Ace’s actions.

“It’s nothing,” Ace gave a casual wave of his hand. _Nothing that you should be concerned with._ Because let’s face it, what was Ace going to say? What could he say?

“All you’ve done is just convince me that it’s _definitely_ not nothing.”

Something in Ace snapped, and he promptly blew up. “Argh, what’s it to you!” 

“I don’t like it, alright?!” Deuce yelled back in kind.

“Well, suck it up!”

“I refuse!”

“Fine!” Rationality all thrown out of the window, Ace could no longer give any shit about what was to come next. He was asking for it. Deuce was asking for it! “You want to know what’s up? Every time I see your damn face, I want to hit it less!”

Deuce widened his eyes, utterly unable to believe what he was hearing. “THAT’S THE FUCKING PROBLEM?!”

“It sure fucking is!” Ace took a deep breath, in a last-ditch attempt to calm himself down. Any more shaking and this capsule might just break off – not ideal. “Look, _someone_ , or rather, a pair, planted the idea in my head that– Get this, whatever ‘confession’ nonsense I said to the Ghost Bride, it was meant for you!” It was truly aggravating. Ace had assumed that he was able to put that event behind him already, but here they were, bringing it up again.

A moment of silence passed before Deuce opened his mouth. “So, is it?” 

To Ace’s surprise, Deuce had also quietened down. He had expected a more extreme reaction from Deuce – outrage, bewilderment, all that. Not… This. And it threw him off. 

“...I don’t know. To be honest, things like ideal marriage and all… I don’t know man, it’s a far off thing, and I don’t even know what I would want from it. It’s just a feeling, you know.” Ace inwardly cursed. _God, if I had a dollar for every time I said “I don’t know”, I would have three by now._

Eyelids heavy, Deuce averted his gaze towards the ground. _You didn’t answer my question._

Ace was rambling, he himself knew. But it was all too sudden, and he sure as hell did not prepare for this scenario to occur when all they wanted was to enjoy a day at the theme park. “Look,” he continued. “I… I wasn’t lying when I said that I said those things to convince the Ghost Bride.” Ace let out a resigned sigh. “But maybe… There was some truth to it.”

“And?” 

“And maybe… Just maybe, okay! I was subconsciously thinking of someone, who knows.” There. He said it. Ace had finally said it.

Except to Deuce, “someone”, could really be anyone. “I see,” was simply all he had replied.

Ace watched Deuce’s expression carefully. And there it was, a hint of dejection that had briefly washed over the other’s countenance. But really, there was no reason for Deuce to be acting this way. _Unless…_ Ace gave his head a scratch. _How did things end up this way?_

For them, it felt as if time had slowed down. No– It was not time that was slowing down, but the ferris wheel capsule itself. Which was terrible, really. Because at that moment, Deuce wanted nothing more than the ride to end already. Ultimately, Ace did not give him a direct answer – neither a ‘yes’, nor a ‘no’. Which he had thought it would not matter that much, but the constricted feeling in his chest signalled otherwise.

“Deuce,” Ace’s voice, barely a whisper, tugged his attention back to reality.

_Psssh… Pop! Crackle!_

Ace had opened his mouth to say something, but Deuce never heard it.

Blinding light flooded through their capsule, and the duo was instantly distracted by the commotion outside. Plastering their hands against the glass window, they gaped at the colourful flashes of light before their eyes.

_Fireworks!_

High up in the ferris wheel, they undoubtedly had a spectacular view of the show before them. Some exploded into a million sparkling glitters, some tumbled like a waterfall, some whizzed up, disappearing into the night sky, before sending down silver showers from above. Beautiful, but transient.

With the constant crackle and pop of the fireworks in the background, Ace was convinced that Deuce did not catch his last sentence. And he was not about to let that slide, now that they had got this far. Seeing that Deuce’s attention was completely captured by the fireworks, Ace took the chance to lean in, whispering next to his ear.

“ _Someone_ means you, idiot.”

Startled, Deuce flinched backwards, his eyes wide open as he stared at Ace dumbly. _Huh? HUH?!?_ As realisation washed over him, a flush crept up his cheeks and tinged his ears, Deuce’s reddened features complementing his turquoise eyes that seemed to twinkle under the light of the fireworks so well – was what Ace had thought.

To describe Deuce’s feeling right now, it could be likened to asking for a Christmas present in June, and actually receiving one – elated, yet extremely confused. He had many questions. For Ace and for himself. The fact of the matter was that he did not think this through. (Like many other things.)

“I– I’m not marrying you!” Deuce blurted out in a state of panic.

Naturally, Ace’s jaw dropped, faced with this sudden declaration. “I’m not asking you to!”

“Good! Because I plan to graduate first!” See, Deuce had always been a particularly serious person, although a little disorganised. So when he loses his cool, apparently a lot of screws start going missing in his head too. Like at this exact juncture, for instance.

Ace did not even fight the urge to do a facepalm and groan. _Good job Ace, you fell for a real idiot here!_

“Can you,” Ace gripped Deuce’s shoulder, “please calm down!”

“I am calm!” Deuce exclaimed, not-so-calmly. Then, he took a deep breath. “I am.” _Relieved._

“Good. So… What now?” Ace released his grip, slowly leaning backwards into his seat. He glanced outside. It seemed that the fireworks show had passed its climax, with only a few whizzes in the background. At the very least, they didn’t have to shout over the noise at each other now.

Deuce frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, now that things turned out this way,” Ace paused, hesitating. “We can’t go back to normal and pretend like this never happened.”

“So? I don’t see the problem here,” replied Deuce matter-of-factly.

Ace blinked once, then twice. Then he let out a small laugh. Guys really were different from girls, after all. No, to be more accurate, _Deuce really is different_. “All’s well then,” he smiled.

Deuce could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat. Terrible. This was uncharted territory for him, one that he did not foresee exploring so soon. “But… I’m not as experienced as you are in these matters, so…” Trailing off, he avoided making eye contact with Ace. As much as Deuce tried to remain cool, this whole situation was still pretty embarrassing, for a lack of a better word.

“Hey, I’m no expert either. I’ve only dated like what, once, before?” Ace hastily rebutted. Sure, his ex-girlfriend was nice to be with, but that was just about it. Their relationship was just your typical short-lived high school fling, nothing more. “Look, let’s just… Take things slowly.”

“One step at a time?” Deuce murmured.

“Yeah, that,” concurred Ace.

With the sequence of events happening so fast, Deuce finally had a minute of silence to get lost in his own thoughts. In hindsight, it really was pretty straightforward. Deuce was always nervous around women. But around Ace? He was as relaxed as he could be, not having to hold back or to put up a facade. Which had probably led to many of their arguments and fights, come to think of it. Yet, Ace had still accepted him as he was. For that, Deuce felt that he couldn’t ask for more.

Drawn back to reality, the two realised that their capsule had long begun its descent, and was nearing the ground. Once they stepped out, feet back onto land, the relationship between them would take a turn altogether, for better or worse. And that was something that they would only discover in the future.

\---

“Thank you for riding with us, we hope you enjoyed the show!” The cheerful attendant opened their capsule door, sending them on their way.

By the exit gates, Grim and Yuu were already waiting for them. “How was the fireworks show!” Yuu beamed, obviously pleased with it.

“Pretty great!” Ace replied, as casually as he could. Great for the first few minutes they caught, that was, considering that it just served as background noise thereafter. “Did you know that it was going to happen?”

“Yep! I’ve never seen fireworks this up close before, so I was pretty excited for it!” 

_In other words…_ It was Yuu’s fault that he had discovered his feelings for Deuce, _and_ it was Yuu’s fault that he and Deuce had ended up in that situation too! Although, Ace could not really bring himself to be annoyed at that. He gave a sidewards glance at Deuce, who was maintaining his usual poker face. Somehow or rather, he felt an intense urge to tease him, but had decided against it. He would have many, many more opportunities to do that in the near future.

“Deuce, you okay?” Grim peered at him from Yuu’s shoulder. “Your ear’s kind of red!”

“I-Is it?” Deuce stuttered, struggling to keep a neutral expression. “Must have been the capsule, it was quite stuffy in there.”

Ace snickered to himself. _Yeah, right!_

“Hmm…” Yuu pondered to themselves. “I suppose we can get some ice cream and head back afterwards! It’s getting late, anyway.”

Upon hearing the mere suggestion of ice cream, Grim immediately bounded off excitedly to the ice cream parlour, not even waiting for the rest of their responses. Of course, Yuu could only helplessly chase from behind. On the other hand, Ace and Deuce simply took their own time following along.

“We should catch up,” said Deuce. 

“It’s fine, we’ll know where they are,” Ace replied dismissively. “What, tired of being around just me already?”

“Hah?! That’s not what I–”

“I’m just kidding,” Ace laughed, earning a lighthearted punch from a scowling Deuce. 

Ace and Deuce. No longer just friends, but now more than that. Secretly, they were both thankful that their dynamics did not do a sudden 180-degree turn. Perhaps not yet, or ever, but they would find out soon enough. 

True, as Deuce had implied, marriage was a ridiculous idea for them at their current stage of life. But who was rushing them? They had four whole years of college to figure out what they wanted. Besides, Ace and Deuce were never one to plan that far ahead in detail. Not that they were entirely incapable of doing so, but living in the moment just seemed to be more fun. 

Above them, the stars twinkled in the cloudless night sky, accompanied by the faint carousel tune playing in the background. Bathed in the moonlight, the two walked side-by-side – each wondering how they would go from here.

\---

“You think they’d arrive soon?” Grim asked, mouth dribbling with melted ice cream.

“Who knows, let them take their own time,” replied Yuu with a shrug.

“Hah! So, it all worked out then?”

Yuu flashed a cheeky smile. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first twst fic... I'm really glad to have completed it - thank you for reading till the end!
> 
> Also, I have never been to Disneyland... The ferris wheel probably doesn’t work like that but the rules are different in Twisted Wonderland ok!!! #Ramshackle_Dorm_Matchmaking_Agency at your service!


End file.
